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Life in front of the camera and behind the scenes at a This Old House renovation.

Rebuilding Home

(Picture: The storm devastated Seaside Heights, its boardwalk, which is the lifeblood of the business community, and the amusement park that attracts tens of thousands of tourists every summer.)

“We’re going to rebuild our home.” It’s a refrain I hear as I move around
the storm-damaged neighborhoods of the Jersey Shore. People are determined to
rebuild their homes and it’s an understandable sentiment. Well... I thought I understood it. As it turns out some people are talking about their
houses (I know three of them very well) but many others are talking about their
home, that is to say their township or their neighborhood. Both “homes” are
important. A roof over your head is critical, but so is a school for your kids,
a church for your soul and a grocery store for your survival. And on the Jersey
shore both “homes” need rebuilding.

And so it was as I walked and
filmed on the famed boardwalk of Seaside Heights on a cloudy day in mid-May. At
the time there was a frenzy of construction activity. Sandy destroyed most of
the boardwalk, ripping up its planks, snapping in half 30-foot pilings, and
washing away nearly 200 feet of a 600-foot pier that had stretched into the
ocean. It was a complete loss. On that pier sat nearly a dozen amusement park
rides until Sandy had her way with them and hurled five of the rides into the
ocean, including the now iconic Jet Star rollercoaster. Somehow the Jet Star
remained mostly intact and upright even as it sat in the Atlantic Ocean. It was
an eerie sight and it has become one of the most unforgettable images of the
storm.

(Picture: There used to be about a dozen rides on this pier, but Sandy dumped five of them into the ocean and ruined the rest.)

But we didn’t come to Seaside Heights to see the destruction, we came to
see the rebuilding, and on this day we saw plenty of it. There were cranes,
bobcats, trucks, and crews frantically working to get things fixed by Memorial
Day weekend. If the boardwalk could not be rebuilt by then, the scores of
businesses that line it couldn’t open for the season and that would be a disaster
for the town. Summer tourism dollars drive this community – they fill the tax
coffers, pay the salaries of thousands of workers, and maintain the schools. One
missed summer wouldn’t just leave the town wanting for dollars, it might
permanently change people’s behavior. Tourists might decide to go elsewhere and
never come back. So the race to rebuild was on.

(Picture: Rebuilding was at a frenzied pace just weeks before the critical Memorial Day weekend.)

It may seem slightly less urgent or noble to rebuild a boardwalk than a
house, but it isn’t. In fact, rebuilding a single house is far easier than
restoring a community or an entire town. The good news is, they made the
deadline. The boardwalk and the businesses
reopened in time for the Memorial Day summer kickoff. And the work of restoring
a community continues.